Number of people unaccounted for after Washington mudslide rises

CHRIS UHLMANN: In the United States rescuers at the massive mudslide in Washington State have revised up the number of people unaccounted for from 104 to 176, though they have again stressed that many may be safe but haven't checked in with family or authorities.

So far 14 people have been confirmed killed after a rain-soaked mountain slope collapsed on the weekend, but officials expect the death toll to rise as they move from rescue to recovery.

North America correspondent Michael Vincent reports.

MICHAEL VINCENT: For the families of the missing there's a sense of desperation. Rae Smith hasn't been able to locate her 36 year old daughter. Her other children have been out searching.

RAE SMITH: My heart is shattered into a million pieces. My 16 year old daughter, my adult son and his two young sons were down there digging with their hands trying to find her.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Police have released a 911 phone call from a horrified witness. She simply says, "everything's gone" as she watched the mudslide consume dozens of houses.

911 CALLER: There's like a mudslide and everything's gone! The houses are gone! There's people yelling for help!

MICHAEL VINCENT: Rescuers now say there have been no calls for help from under the debris so far.

A dog was rescued yesterday, giving the Kuntz family some joy.

KUNTZ SON: We were looking through all the rubble and stuff of our house and we just heard the dog whining.

IRENE KUNTZ: And we had one thing we could celebrate after, you know, a day of just horror.

MICHAEL VINCENT: An exhausted-looking local fire chief, Travis Hots, fronted reporters today. After saying he expects the number of dead to rise, he was asked if some bodies may never be recovered.

TRAVIS HOTS: We are going to do everything that we can with our capabilities to recover every single person. And that's no guarantee that we're going to get everybody but we are going to do our very best.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Rain is now hampering recovery efforts. Specialists with dogs and listening devices are searching through the debris field for pockets or voids that someone may have survived in.

The director of emergency management John Pennington was trying to hold out some hope.

JOHN PENNINGTON: I believe in miracles and I believe people can survive these events. They've done it before, they can do it again. And we're going to operate that parallel track.

MICHAEL VINCENT: There's been intense focus on why so many people were allowed to build in the area. A 1999 report warned of a "potential for a large catastrophic failure".

John Pennington says he hasn't had a chance to look at the report yet, but an earthquake earlier this month may have contributed to the problem.

JOHN PENNINGTON: We- just kind of on a hunch in the Department of Emergency Management, we decided to kind of look around at some of the seismic activity. I want to know why this slide went too. I'm not just an emergency management director; I'm a dad, I'm a husband. I want to know what happened.

And on a hunch the other night we went out and you have to dig pretty deeply, but we found there was a 1.1 earthquake approximately 100 yards right behind the slide on March the 10th, right near the surface.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Clearing the debris field and recovering all the bodies is expected to take weeks. This is Michael Vincent for AM.

From the Archives

Around 500 Indigenous people fought in the First World War, and as many as 5,000 in the second. But many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers who made it home received little or no recognition for their contribution. On Anzac Day, 2007, the first parade to commemorate their efforts and bravery was held in Sydney. Listen to our report from that day by Lindy Kerin.